Body pulled from Rock River identifed as Mary Coulthard

A Janesville firefighter wades into the Rock River just south of the Center Avenue bridge on Friday, May 10 to retrieve what is believed to be a body. The body was identified as Mary Coulthard on Saturday, May 11.

JANESVILLE—Authorities identified the body pulled from the Rock River on Friday afternoon as Mary Coulthard.

Coulthard, 75, was last seen the evening of May 2. The search for her began May 3.

The cause of death is drowning, Sgt. Mark Ratzlaff said.

Police released the identity Saturday night.

At about 6 p.m. Friday a city of Janesville firefighter waded into the water and retrieved a female body near the Monterey Dam.

A call was received at the Rock County 911 Communications Center at 4:41 p.m. Friday after a 15-year-old boy found the body along the south bank of the river midway between the Center Avenue bridge and the first railroad trestle downstream.

An identity was not released Friday because an autopsy needed to be completed and the body needed to be identified.

On Friday, police said there were no signs of obvious trauma or foul play.

An autopsy was completed Saturday in Madison, Ratzlaff said. He did not know of a specific time or location.

Coulthard, 208 N. Main St., Janesville, was last seen at 9 p.m. May 2 in the 200 block of North Main Street.

Earlier last week, police found personal property of Coulthard's on the Milwaukee Street bridge as well as south of the bridge on land near the Rock River. That prompted ground, water and aerial searches of the river, police said.

Based on the location of the property, police believed she traveled along the river at some point, Dan Davis, Janesville police deputy chief, said last week.

Police are investigating Coulthard's death.

Ratzlaff did not know exactly what that investigation would entail. He said it could be to find more details on what happened to the Janesville woman and how it happened.